Tuesday, December 20, 2011

A Tale of Two Counts

[Something's going on with several key bird food plants this winter, one of which is sweetgum. I've never seen so many birds of so many species feeding on the seeds of sweetgum, contained in prickly "gumballs". This Carolina Chickadee at Cape May NWR is an example, but watch for sparrows, finches and blackbirds on, or under, this tree.]

It's only about 125 miles as the robin flies from the Walnut Valley Christmas Bird Count circle in (mainly) Warren County, NJ southward to the Cape May circle. Other than the obvious (like ocean versus no ocean), the following numbers speak volumes about how NJ is more than one state, biologically:

The above numbers are just from my territories on both counts, but the implication is clear: north Jersey is the northeast verging on New England; south Jersey is the mid-Atlantic verging on the southeast.

[Used to say you can't sneak up on Wild Turkeys, but we did on these in the Schellenger tract of the Cape May NWR on Sunday, right after we found some of the distinctive, pie-pan sized, somewhat triangular patches of scraped-away leaves that feeding turkey flocks leave behind.]

Speaking of north-south differences, one difference that has largely disappeared is where you go to find a Wild Turkey. They're all over the south now, but 25 years ago, Sussex and Warren counties were the place to look, near the original reintroduction site for turkeys in NJ in Sussex, which I believe occurred in 1977.

[The Green Creek Bald Eagle pair put in a showing north of Norbury's Landing during the Cape May CBC. Not sure where this pair nests - but it has to be nearby, they're often out there, sometimes sitting right on the muddy sand flats at low tide.]

@ songbird, I don't know how much sweet gum seeds substitute for acorns, since the gum seeds are much smaller, but it's a possiblity. I do hypothesize that, since acorn production is down in most places but seemed not to be a Cox Hall Creek WMA, that's why the multiple Red-headed Woodpeckers and many Red-bellied Woodpeckers are wintering there.

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This blog is about. . .

. . . sharing the joy found in birds and life. Especially birds, birders and birding in Cape May, NJ, where I happen to live. Generally I stick to thoughts and photos of birds and other wildlife, with occasional i.d. tips or ecology notes, though wider-ranging subjects creep in now and then.